With 10 identified plant communities inside a designated Urban Wilderness Area, Fern Forest Nature Center is one of the finest examples of preserved native plant communities in South Florida. Its name is taken from the abundance of more than 30 fern species on the 247 acre property.

Here is another #latergram from July of a variety of ferns and a bromeliad lush from the summer rains.

This sunny Yellow Warbler was counted on Virginia Key Beach on 12/15 during the 119th annual Christmas Bird Count. We are grateful to the small army of dedicated birders who fanned across Miami to participate in the holiday tradition, one of the longest-running bird-monitoring projects in the world. Find and join your nearest counting circle in South Florida on Tropical Audubon's website: http://ow.ly/7w4530mWCWI Photo credit: Miriam Avello #AudubonCBC

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A juvenile Gopher Tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) at Archbold Biological Station. As you can see from its robust front legs, this little tortoise is already fully equipped for digging! The Gopher Tortoise is considered a keystone species because of its importance to the ecosystem. More than 300 species (including Gopher Frogs, Eastern Indigo Snakes and Florida Mice) use their burrows as refuges to escape fires and extreme heat or cold. Unfortunately, Gopher Tortoise populations are decreasing, mainly due to loss of habitat from human development.#Archboldconserves#Archboldprotects#Archboldshares#Keystonespecies#KeepFLWild#realFL#loveFL Photo by Peyton Breault

#Repost@carltonward ・・・The Saint Johns River is the longest river in Florida, flowing 310 miles from marshy headwaters southeast of Orlando northward to the Atlantic Ocean near Jacksonville. The elevation change from source to sea is only 30 feet -- an average slope of just over one inch per mile. The river swells out into several wide lakes, including Puzzle Lake, shown in this aerial photo. Florida has 12 million acres of designated wetlands, the most of any state other than Alaska. Efforts to protect wetlands, including the Everglades, St. Johns and Suwannee, have laid the foundation for the statewide Florida Wildlife Corridor. I paddled through Puzzle Lake during the 2012 Florida Wildlife Corridor Expedition working to raise awareness for importance keeping green space connected. This week's ruling by the Trump administration to role back protections of wetlands under the Clear Water Act exposes nearly 6 million acres of Florida wetlands to reclassification and potentially greater risk. Florida averages 50 inches of rainfall per year, most in the summer wet season, when much of the state's 40 million acres are acting as wetlands. When it comes to conservation in Florida, it needs to be land and water, because land and water here are so closely connected. #FloridaWildlifeCorridor#FloridaWild#KeepFLWild@natgeoimagecollection@FL_WildCorridor#pathofthepanther

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One cool thing about chasing panthers with camera traps is seeing all the other amazing wildlife that depend on the panther’s domain. This Osceola turkey skirts a seasonally flooded trail at Babcock Ranch Preserve in Southwest Florida. One of six subspecies of turkeys in North America, the Osceola (named after the famous Seminole chief) is the most sought after by hunters. This gobbler has a distinct beard extending from his chest, a head with red tissue that swells during courtship displays and iridescent feathers that shimmer in the daylight. #turkey#florida#pathofthepanther#floridawild#keepflwild

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PHOTOS WITH SANTA THIS SATURDAY 9A-2P: it's your final chance to see the Big Guy, decorate holiday cookies, and enjoy a complimentary ride on the Wildlife Carousel! Included with regular Zoo admission. Photos are available for purchase in the gift store. • 📸: Zoo photographer @badmoon722

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"There is pleasure in the pathless woods, there is rapture in the lonely shore, there is society where none intrudes, by the deep sea, and music in its roar; I love not Man the less, but Nature more." -Lord Byron

Photo by @CarltonWard | The Saint Johns River is the longest river in Florida, flowing 310 miles from marshy headwaters southeast of Orlando northward to the Atlantic Ocean near Jacksonville. The elevation change from source to sea is only 30 feet, an average slope of just over one inch per mile. The river swells into several wide lakes, including Puzzle Lake, shown in this aerial. Florida has 12 million acres of designated wetlands, the most of any state other than Alaska. Efforts to protect wetlands, including the Everglades, St. Johns, and Suwannee, have laid the foundation for the statewide Florida Wildlife Corridor. I paddled through Puzzle Lake during the 2012 Florida Wildlife Corridor Expedition (supported by @insidenatgeo), which worked to raise awareness of the importance of keeping green space connected. This week's ruling by the Trump Administration to roll back protections of wetlands under the Clean Water Act exposes nearly 6 million acres of Florida wetlands to reclassification and potentially greater risk. Florida averages 50 inches of rain per year, most falling in the summer wet season, when much of the state's 40 million acres act as wetlands. When it comes to conservation in Florida, it needs to be land and water, because land and water here are so closely connected. #FloridaWildlifeCorridor#FloridaWild#KeepFLWild@natgeoimagecollection@FL_WildCorridor#pathofthepanther

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Love how the light works itself through the different parts of the landscape, and how black and white just magnifies that with a simplicity.

Photo by @CarltonWard | The Saint Johns River is the longest river in Florida, flowing 310 miles from marshy headwaters southeast of Orlando northward to the Atlantic Ocean near Jacksonville. The elevation change from source to sea is only 30 feet, an average slope of just over one inch per mile. The river swells into several wide lakes, including Puzzle Lake, shown in this aerial. Florida has 12 million acres of designated wetlands, the most of any state other than Alaska. Efforts to protect wetlands, including the Everglades, St. Johns, and Suwannee, have laid the foundation for the statewide Florida Wildlife Corridor. I paddled through Puzzle Lake during the 2012 Florida Wildlife Corridor Expedition (supported by @insidenatgeo), which worked to raise awareness of the importance of keeping green space connected. This week's ruling by the Trump Administration to roll back protections of wetlands under the Clean Water Act exposes nearly 6 million acres of Florida wetlands to reclassification and potentially greater risk. Florida averages 50 inches of rain per year, most falling in the summer wet season, when much of the state's 40 million acres act as wetlands. When it comes to conservation in Florida, it needs to be land and water, because land and water here are so closely connected. #FloridaWildlifeCorridor#FloridaWild#KeepFLWild@natgeoimagecollection@FL_WildCorridor#pathofthepanther

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Seedlings are up 🌱 which means it's time for mulching. maintaining sustainability by utilizing the plethora of fresh organic material found around the property as armor on our precious soils. The layer of mulch provides habitat for beneficial microorganisms, and as it decomposes it's converted into nutrients for our crops. ✨ . .

Photo by @CarltonWard | The Saint Johns River is the longest river in Florida, flowing 310 miles from marshy headwaters southeast of Orlando northward to the Atlantic Ocean near Jacksonville. The elevation change from source to sea is only 30 feet, an average slope of just over one inch per mile. The river swells into several wide lakes, including Puzzle Lake, shown in this aerial. Florida has 12 million acres of designated wetlands, the most of any state other than Alaska. Efforts to protect wetlands, including the Everglades, St. Johns, and Suwannee, have laid the foundation for the statewide Florida Wildlife Corridor. I paddled through Puzzle Lake during the 2012 Florida Wildlife Corridor Expedition (supported by @insidenatgeo), which worked to raise awareness of the importance of keeping green space connected. This week's ruling by the Trump Administration to roll back protections of wetlands under the Clean Water Act exposes nearly 6 million acres of Florida wetlands to reclassification and potentially greater risk. Florida averages 50 inches of rain per year, most falling in the summer wet season, when much of the state's 40 million acres act as wetlands. When it comes to conservation in Florida, it needs to be land and water, because land and water here are so closely connected. #FloridaWildlifeCorridor#FloridaWild#KeepFLWild@natgeoimagecollection@FL_WildCorridor#pathofthepanther

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Photo by @CarltonWard // Today is #EvergladesDay - an opportunity to celebrate America’s largest subtropical wilderness and the largest protected stretch of mangrove coastline in the Western Hemisphere. There are four million acres of contiguous public conservation lands in the Everglades of South Florida. My current #PathofthePanther project with @NatGeo is focusing on the story of the panther to inspire protection of the @fl_wildcorridor so we can ensure that the Everglades doesn’t get cut off by development from the rest of America. Shot from a Cesna 177 airplane. Please follow @CarltonWard for more #Everglades#FloridaWild#KeepFLWild

I got to Dinner Island an hour before the sun came up. The fog was so thick, my flashlight kept hitting a cold white wall of mist and I couldn't find a place to stop and compose my shot. After a brief colorful daybreak, the sun was covered by cloud for a while and made the white mist over the ground glow, before coming out to play again with golden light. It was an odd, magical morning, filled with open prairies, oak hammocks, shadowy sabal palms, lowing cattle, basking gators, tiptoeing deer, slinking raccoons, sparkling spiderwebs, and all sorts of birdlife.

ALL KIDS FREE... now through December 26! It's TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS brought to you by Palm Beach Zoo and the CHRISTMAS CAPUCHIN who still hasn't found his contacts! TAG A FRIEND... help spread the holiday cheer! • 🎥: Zoo Ambassador @betsystibal

The Saint Johns River is the longest river in Florida, flowing 310 miles from marshy headwaters southeast of Orlando northward to the Atlantic Ocean near Jacksonville. The elevation change from source to sea is only 30 feet -- an average slope of just over one inch per mile. The river swells out into several wide lakes, including Puzzle Lake, shown in this aerial photo. Florida has 12 million acres of designated wetlands, the most of any state other than Alaska. Efforts to protect wetlands, including the Everglades, St. Johns and Suwannee, have laid the foundation for the statewide Florida Wildlife Corridor. I paddled through Puzzle Lake during the 2012 Florida Wildlife Corridor Expedition working to raise awareness for importance keeping green space connected. This week's ruling by the Trump administration to role back protections of wetlands under the Clear Water Act exposes nearly 6 million acres of Florida wetlands to reclassification and potentially greater risk. Florida averages 50 inches of rainfall per year, most in the summer wet season, when much of the state's 40 million acres are acting as wetlands. When it comes to conservation in Florida, it needs to be land and water, because land and water here are so closely connected. #FloridaWildlifeCorridor#FloridaWild#KeepFLWild@natgeoimagecollection@FL_WildCorridor#pathofthepanther

#Repost from @carltonward // A male Florida panther navigates a narrow trail as the sun sets over Babcock Ranch. Perhaps he’s getting an early start on a nighttime hunt for a deer or hog. A panther like this can have a home range up to 200 square miles, making him an excellent ambassador for the importance of protecting large connected landscapes within the Florida Wildlife Corridor. The state animal of Florida in the last puma surviving in the eastern United States, the Florida panther population has grown to approximately 200 individuals, up from a low of 20-30 when it was added to the endangered species list in 1973. But there needs to be more than 600 panthers to be recovered from endangered status — and the only that is going to happen is by protecting more land from development so that panthers can reclaim their history territory through Florida and beyond. Shot for my #PathofthePanther project with @Natgeo@nature_org and @fl_wildcorridor. #KeepFLWild@insidenatgeo@natgeocreative

"Life is complex. Each one of us must make his own path through life. There are no self-help manuals, no formulas, no easy answers. The right road for one is the wrong road for another...The journey of life is not paved in blacktop; it is not brightly lit, and it has no road signs. It is a rocky path through the wilderness." -Scott Peck